David Cameron is facing renewed pressure to change key parts of his NHS
overhaul, just a day after he forced the Health Secretary to tell MPs he was
listening to concerns about the reforms.

Image 1 of 3

The health committee's report recommends a much bigger role for nurses.Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Image 1 of 3

Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, said there could be further improvements to the Bill when it came to opening up the NHS to private providersPhoto: PA

Image 1 of 3

David Cameron is facing renewed pressure to change key parts of his NHS overhaul after Health Secretary Andrew Lansley (L) was forced to announce that the reforms have been postponed.Photo: AFP/ GETTY IMAGES

The health select committee calls for “significant changes” to the plans to give GPs sole charge of commissioning patient services.

Stephen Dorrell, the former Tory health secretary and committee chairman, said the Health and Social Care Bill needed more than “minor tweaks”.

That will come as a blow to Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, who has found himself at the centre of a political storm, which has led to the intervention of the Prime Minister to try to preserve the wide-ranging reforms.

Mr Lansley said there would be changes but the major planks of the reform, which were first reported by The Daily Telegraph last July, would remain in place. He insisted that the changes were needed to guarantee the NHS could maintain a “sustainable course”.

The health committee’s report recommends a much bigger role for nurses, specialists and social care chiefs in deciding how services should be designed, together with tighter systems of governance and accountability.

The MPs suggest that GPs commissioning services should have a board chaired by an independent person as well as a chief executive and finance director.

The boards should be forced to meet in public and ensure no conflicts of interest exist as a result of doctors commissioning services from private firms in which they have a stake. Labour and the British Medical Association are opposed to the plans.

On Monday, in a sign of the pressure facing Downing Street and Mr Lansley, the Health Secretary made a Commons statement in which he admitted that there would be changes to the Bill.

Mr Lansley told MPs that there would be “a natural break in the passage of the Bill to pause, to listen and to engage with all those who want the NHS to succeed and subsequently to bring forward amendments to improve the plans further in the normal way”. It means the Bill is almost certainly likely to be delayed, with the Lords committee stage put back.

John Healey, the shadow health secretary, said: “In the middle of confusion, chaos and incompetence, the Prime Minister has pushed the Health Secretary out of the bunker to try and tell people what exactly and what on earth they are doing with the NHS.”

He added Mr Cameron had “made it his personal pledge to protect the NHS and to stop top-down reorganisations that had got in the way of patient care”.

Labour also ridiculed Mr Lansley, pointing out that even Lord Tebbit, the former Tory party chairman, was against the free-market reforms.

Meanwhile, Ed Miliband branded the reforms “extremely dangerous” and urged Mr Cameron to think again about his “reckless” proposals. The Labour leader warned that the NHS, the “jewel in Britain’s crown”, was at risk.

He said that changes had to be made in the running of the NHS — but not the way the Government was planning. He also warned the plans would make hospital closures more likely, but pledged that Labour would view any different proposals with an “open mind”.

Policy Exchange, a think tank close to Mr Cameron, added its voice to the concerns over the Bill. It suggested that the proposals to abolish every primary care trust by 2013 could lead to a new structure that in fact changed little apart from the name of the commissioning body.

Its report also urged the Government to put the brakes on the pace of its reforms to give time for GPs to get used to their new role. Based on interviews with doctors and managers, it found that the Government had lost many potential supporters inside and outside the NHS.

Eve Norridge, the lead author of the report, said: “There are many GPs who have the potential to become highly successful commissioners. It would be a loss to everyone if the policy were discredited due to overly hasty implementation.”